Taking a slow-and-steady approach to fitness, I worked out in moderation every day of 2014. Here’s the chart:

WHY?

I’m a runner. I like road races and trail/mountain running, but striving to do anything “well” is time consuming. In early 2013, when our second child was born, I decided that I would have to cut back on the time and intensity of my running “hobby”.

As 2014 approached, it was clear that it was going to be another year of parenting-before-all-else. So if I wasn’t going to have a running agenda, maybe I could try a little experiment instead. On New Year’s Eve 2013, I decided that I would try to exercise every day for the entire year.

The goal for the year was to see if I could not just maintain, but increase my fitness through regular, moderate exercise. By dropping the focus from running, and thus, dialing back on “training” and “intensity”, I could look forward to a year of small adventures. On any given day, I could choose just about any activity I wanted to do without having to worry about a running schedule.